Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 7.djvu/45



1. The night of Brahman being over, and the God sprung from the lotus (Brahman) having woke from his slumber, Vishnu purposing to create living beings, and perceiving the earth covered with water,

2. Assumed the shape of a boar, delighting to sport in water, as at the beginning of each former Kalpa, and raised up the earth (from the water).

3. His feet were the Vedas ; his tusks the sacrificial stakes; in his teeth were the offerings; his mouth was the pyre; his tongue was the fire; his hair was the sacrificial grass; the sacred texts were his head; and he was (endowed with the miraculous power of) a great ascetic.

4. His eyes were day and night; he was of superhuman nature; his ears were the two bundles of Kara grass (for the Ishtis, or smaller sacrifices, and for the animal offerings); his ear-rings were the ends of those bundles of Kusa, grass (used for wiping 1. 1. Regarding the duration of a night of Brahman, see XX, 14. 'Bhutdni' means living beings of all the four kinds, born from the womb and the rest. (Nand.) The three other kinds consist of those produced from an egg, from sweat, and from a shoot or germ ; see Manu I, 43-46.

2. A Kalpa=a day of Brahman; see XX, 13.